When real-life shoe magnate Steve Madden popped up in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, it came as a surprise but also with a flash of recognition: Didn‘t we know that guy? Madden was played by Jake Hoffman, who has acted in small roles since he was a child, but whose face bears a striking resemblance to one of the most famous in modern movies: Dustin Hoffman.

Yes, Jake is Dustin’s son, but he’s also busy striking out on his own, both as an actor and now as the director of his first feature film, Asthma. Starring Benedict Samuel and Krysten Ritter as a pair of young lovers trying not to let drug addiction come between them, it’s a New York romance from a kid born in L.A. But maybe, as Hoffman suggests, L.A. and New York kids aren’t that different after all?

Vanity Fair: So how’s it all been going for you?

Jake Hoffman: I’m excited. It’s funny—this is sort of the stress that I’ve prayed for, in the sense that you make a low-budget indie like this and usually you don’t get to theaters. I didn’t know that we were automatically going to get there, so this is what I was praying for. I have nothing to complain about; it really is a dream come true. But at the same time, I’ve never done this before, and it’s definitely something that I care about, so in that sense, it is stressful and a learning process.

This is your directorial debut. What was it like getting behind the camera for this project? People have really only seen you on-screen up until this point.

I went to film school and studied directing, so this has been something I’ve been working towards my whole life. I’ve been doing short films and music videos since school, so it was definitely a new experience. But it wasn’t the first time working on the other side of the camera.

How much of a say did you have in the casting? It seems to be very much your vision.

I had complete control of that. When you do a little indie—for all of the disadvantages of the D.I.Y. model—you also have more control. My producing partners were all extremely supportive of my vision. Out of respect, decisions weren’t made without talking to them. We cast an unknown Australian actor in his first movie, and he was the lead. So if there was going to be a problem, this wouldn’t have happened.

I’m not sure people outside of the film industry really realize how long it takes for one movie to get made.

I wrote the first version of the script five years ago, and I told my friend that and he said, ”Wow! You got that done fast.”

Hoffman and Asthma star Krysten Ritter snap a selfie at the film‘s premiere.

Courtesy of PatrickMcMullan.com

So this film takes place in New York and outside of the city, but the character of Gus feels like someone—and not someone specific—but someone I knew back in high school in Los Angeles.

I don’t know that New York City kids and L.A. kids are so different.

They definitely aren’t.

It’s a work of fiction, so the character is fictitious and certainly the story is fictitious. But when I wrote the script, I sort of heard different people I know, their voices in certain parts. It’s always a part of you anyway. There was a group of friends that I became very close with when I was 18 years old. And I was very naïve when I was 18.

Who isn’t?

Yeah, right? But I think even more so than most. So I would encounter certain situations and I wasn’t necessarily as aware to understand the dangers that were involved with them. And I think that there’s a beauty in that, but it’s also not practical. On the one hand I look back and this was a beautiful albeit reckless time. But there‘s a beauty in not being afraid of consequences, and that innocence. We had so much fun. And now I look back and I’m like, Oh my God, I’m lucky that everyone didn’t die.

I feel like a lot of times, when films deal with rebellion and addiction, it’s almost one or the other. Not to say that there aren’t great films about both, but sometimes it feels like people pick a side. It’s either: We’re going to ignore all the consequences and this is a movie celebrating reckless behavior . . . yay, rock ‘n’ roll! And then there are other movies that sort of tip their hat as a cautionary tale. And some of those movies are great, by the way. But for me, and the part of my life that I was looking back on and reflecting, it was important to explore that balance, because that balance was truer to my experience.

You make me very nostalgic when you say that.

That’s sort of it. That’s a lot of what this is about. On the one hand, it’s sad that we live in a world where you have to grow up, because consequences are real. There is something beautiful about that innocence that has to get lost because we live in an imperfect world.

Is there any advice you’ve gotten from your father that’s stuck with you?

There was never one moment where he was like, Listen to me, my boy. Now I’m going to tell you this secret I’ve never told anyone. That was never it! I’ve learned so much from him, not just about filmmaking, but about life. And my mom too! And then I grew up, and this sounds funny to say because my dad’s a—deservingly so—revered artist, but you reach a certain age where you reciprocate. We give each other feedback. But one piece of advice that he gave me about making art and films in general that I think applies to this movie, although it wasn’t a thing he told me right before it, but that I sort of remembered throughout the process, and want to always remember, there is a thin line between doing something great and doing something terrible. You can do good work playing it safe, but you can't really do something great unless you’re risking. Each go around, whether an actor, director, writer, musician or painter, the more risk more reward approach really applies. And that’s something that has really stayed with me.